History NightmareFuel / Grounded

[[caption-width-right:350:It's big. It's mean. And only one of you is getting out of its lair.]]

** Oh but don't worry, all those other spiders will seem far less terrifying under the might of the most infamous of them all, '''''The Black Widow'''''. The black widow isn't a boss, which [[BossInMooksClothing only serves to lull you into a false sense of security.]] First things first, the black widow is [[NighInvulnerable resistant to all forms of damage.]] [[NotHyperbole Yes, you heard that right,]] ALL. FORMS. OF DAMAGE. [[StuffBlowingUp Explosives?]] Nope. [[KillItWithIce Minty?]] Nada. [[KryptoniteFactor Spicy?]] Doesn’t care. [[InfinityPlusOneElement Sour?]] BARELY A SCRATCH. Second, much like all the other late game spiders, the widow can inflict poison damage on you. However while spiders like Orb Weaver Jrs and Wolf spiders inflict 1 Stack of poison (And the Broodmother herself inflicts 2) the black widow inflicts '''three''' stacks of poison on you with every bite, meaning if you so much as get scratched by this thing, even with Mithridatism, your health is going to ''Plummet.'' Third, the Black Widow has an ungodly amount of health, which is compounded by, again, being resistant to all forms of damage. Fourth, The Black Widow is FAST. Even faster than the wolf spider or the broodmother. This monstrosity of nature is so terrifying, any teen that sees it immediately [[OhCrap reacts with fear,]] something typically saved for ''Bosses''

** '''The Broodmother.''' [[GiantSpider Holy.]] [[BonusBoss Shit.]] The first fully fledged boss to be added into the game, and damn does it start with a bang. [[GuideDangIt Not only do you have to go through a pretty complex series of steps to even summon this brute,]] but when you do summon her, you'll probably notice her design is based off of a demon orb weaver, making her look like [[BodyHorror some kinda mutated plate wearing monstrosity.]] Second, much like the spiders above, she hits like a freight train, and moves incredibly quickly, using venom and vicious combos to easily overwhelm your tiny defenses, along with lethal pouncing attacks. Third, [[MookMaker she summons junior orb weavers and spiderlings]] to the fight when her health gets low. Fourth, she seals the arena up once she spawns, ensuring that once you summon her, ''it's a fight to the death.'' She also absolutely dwarfs the playable characters, being easily 5x their size. It's quite telling that even the trailer where she's introduced, [[BreakingTheFourthWall has the announcers recommend the player enable arachnophobia mode,]] and that any character unfortunate enough to see her being summoned quite rightfully expresses massive fear.

Despite this game’s cheerful aesthetic, and campy movie origins, the one thing this game doesn’t '''[[{{Pun}} Shrink]]''' away from is [[NightmareFuel TERROR.]]

* [[BigCreepyCrawlies The bugs. Every last one of them.]] Due to your vastly reduced size, even the normally tiny bugs like mites and gnats are now half your size, and most are happily willing to bite your face off. Special mention goes to the [[DeadlyGas stinkbugs]] who are absolutely ''giant'' compared to the player, and can deal hefty damage with their gas attacks, unless you have a gas mask… which can only be made with stinkbug parts…

** The wolf spiders: Take orb weavers, [[FromBadToWorse then add]] [[LightningBruiser health, speed, attack power,]] [[PoisonousPerson the ability to poison you]] and the urge to murder you 200% faster than the orb weavers. The poison effect also has [[SarcasmMode the neat side effect]] of being unblockable unless you perform a perfect block or use a proper shield, so even if you block every attack, the poison will slice your health to ribbons faster than you can blink. These guys can be usually found in areas further than spawn, typically don't roam nearly as far as the orb weavers and they only roam around during the night, but ''goddamn'' are they a nightmare to fight against! It’s no wonder killing your first wolf spider nets you an achievement! Akin to the above example, you can also find them incredibly early too, right under the tree where BURG.L's lab is. ShmuckBait at its finest.
*** And as of the “Into The Wood” Update, they’re even worse, because now '''Infected Wolf Spiders''' exist. Unlike most of the infected creatures, these wolf spiders look less like infected bugs, and [[CameBackWrong more like parasitic corpses]] that lumber around aimlessly until they spot prey. They have much more lethal attack patterns, they have as much health as a mini-boss, and they can launch ''Fungal Mines'' at you. [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer That is NOT hyperbole,]] infected wolf spiders can launch EXPLOSIVES. Thankfully they are few and far between… [[OhCrap unless you plug the weed killer tank]] with gum, which allows the fungus to spread through the yard… including underneath the oak tree near BURG.L’s lab…

** Spiderlings: Thankfully [[DownplayedTrope significantly less dangerous than their big boy cousins]] but that doesn’t exclude their pale white skin from this list. Their smaller size also makes them harder to smack with your weapon of choice, and typically where they are, [[CubCuesProtectiveParent the bigger spiders lay in wait..]]
** '''The Broodmother.''' [[GiantSpider Holy.]] [[BonusBoss Shit.]] The first fully fledged boss to be added into the game, and damn does it start with a bang. [[GuideDangIt Not only do you have to go through a pretty complex series of steps to even summon this brute,]] but when you do summon her, you’ll probably notice her design is based off of a demon orb weaver, making her look like [[BodyHorror some kinda mutated plate wearing monstrosity.]] Second, much like the spiders above, she hits like a freight train, and moves incredibly quickly, using venom and vicious combos to easily overwhelm your tiny defenses, along with lethal pouncing attacks. Third, [[MookMaker she summons junior orb weavers and spiderlings]] to the fight when her health gets low. Fourth, she seals the arena up once she spawns, ensuring that once you summon her, ''it’s a fight to the death.'' She also absolutely dwarfs the playable characters, being easily 5x their size. It's quite telling that even the trailer where she's introduced, [[BreakingTheFourthWall has the announcers recommend the player enable arachnophobia mode,]] and that any character unfortunate enough to see her being summoned quite rightfully expresses massive fear.

---> Pete: I’m really regretting my life choices right now!
** Oh but don’t worry, all those other spiders will seem far less terrifying under the might of the most infamous of them all, '''''The Black Widow'''''. The black widow isn’t a boss, which [[BossInMooksClothing only serves to lull you into a false sense of security.]] First things first, the black widow is [[NighInvulnerable resistant to all forms of damage.]] [[NotHyperbole Yes, you heard that right,]] ALL. FORMS. OF DAMAGE. [[StuffBlowingUp Explosives?]] Nope. [[KillItWithIce Minty?]] Nada. [[KryptoniteFactor Spicy?]] Doesn’t care. [[InfinityPlusOneElement Sour?]] BARELY A SCRATCH. Second, much like all the other late game spiders, the widow can inflict poison damage on you. However while spiders like Orb Weaver Jrs and Wolf spiders inflict 1 Stack of poison (And the Broodmother herself inflicts 2) the black widow inflicts '''three''' stacks of poison on you with every bite, meaning if you so much as get scratched by this thing, even with Mithridatism, your health is going to ''Plummet.'' Third, the Black Widow has an ungodly amount of health, which is compounded by, again, being resistant to all forms of damage. Fourth, The Black Widow is FAST. Even faster than the wolf spider or the broodmother. This monstrosity of nature is so terrifying, any teen that sees it immediately [[OhCrap reacts with fear,]] something typically saved for ''Bosses''
** The 1.2 update introduces the new top spider to be terrified of. You thought The Broodmother was bad? Say how-do to the ''Infected'' Broodmother. Yes, ''the INFECTED BROODMOTHER''. Bigger, uglier, meaner, scarier, and will get back up ''twice'' after seemingly being put down.

** Finding the notes in the haze lab however reveal the situation is [[FromBadToWorse much much worse]] than otherwise thought. The reason the haze is covered with the weed killer? [[GodzillaThreshold Dr Tully had the place drenched in said weed killer to keep the infection at bay.]] While this did work,it only did so because the weed killer ''keeps the infection placated.'' If you decide to go through the effort of plugging up the weed killer canister, you clear out the haze entirely… and allow the infection to spread to random pockets of the map, infecting the creatures there too… but if you don’t plug up the weed killer, the haze will remain as a permanent obstacle to deal with… [[SadisticChoice Tough decision huh?]]
* Factional Raids. If you’ve managed to properly piss off a certain faction of bugs (Be they ants, bees, termites, or the ''[[HiveMind entirety of the Infected bugs]] '') There is a chance that they’ll eventually take the fight to you directly and try to destroy your hard built base. The only warning you get ([[FiveSecondForeshadowing roughly 5 seconds before the raid starts]]) is a war horn and '''the eager roaring of the insects getting ready to tear your base to shreds.'''
** Living near the insect faction’s home turf, or killing them are the two ways you can increase the faction’s hatred of you, which comes with some rather chilling notifications. (With the final notification signaling that you can be raided by that faction)
-> [Faction] are aware of your presence…
-> [Faction] [[TranquilFury are annoyed by you…]]
-> [Faction] [[ThisMeansWar wants you gone…]]